INDEX BY TITLE

I live in the Midwest which is Big Ten country. Once conference play starts virtually every Big Ten game is televised in my region and I commit myself to try and watch all of them. I have three televisions set up as some games are being played at the same time. I have no bias or affiliation to any Big Ten team as I am a lifelong Notre Dame fan (I include ND games in my viewing schedule as well). My comments and reports are qualified only by my love of the game and an extreme commitment to watching and following Big Ten football.

Monday, September 7, 2015

The Big Ten went 7-6 in the
first week of the season, 4-6 against FBS competition, with one game left to
play (Ohio St.- Virginia Tech) as of this writing. Not a good record, but as I
said in a previous post, this was the most competitive first week schedule I’ve
ever seen. Since there were no predictions this week, I’ll use this post to
comment on the teams’ first game performance in comparison to my preseason expectations,
mentioning the teams in the order from the top -how much they exceeded – to the
bottom – how much they fell short of – what I expected. This is not to be
confused with a power ranking, mind you. If you feel compelled to verify what
my expectations were going in, you can refer these previous posts: Preseason Predictions (8-25)Pregame Comments (8-30)

More than I expected:

Northwestern knocking
off Stanford kicks off this list. After last season’s yo-yo, I didn’t know what
to expect from the Wildcats. I will say, however, that part of this could be
that Stanford was less than expected.

Iowa. Ok, it
was a non-FBS opponent which means either way, the Hawkeyes can’t really win
here. But I figured Iowa to struggle and didn’t figure QB C.J. Beathard to look
as sharp as he did.

I expected Illinois to beat Kent St. but I sure
didn’t expect a 52-3 thumping. I do, however, think Illinois’ stock has gone up
with Bill Cubit replacing Tim Beckman as the HC. Probably the only case in
college football history where firing an HC the week before the season starts
is a positive.

Notre Dame.
My Irish looked good in just about every facet of the game. Texas looked bad,
though. The Irish were projected to be good, but after last season’s finish I
had my apprehensions. They started off strong last season too, so I still do.

As expected:

Despite being favored, I
figured Nebraska to lose to BYU. And
they did. But it was a fluke so, in a way, the ‘Huskers proved me wrong, which
is why I have them at the top of this category, pushing the brink of “more than
expected”. QB Tommy Armstrong threw well at times but, as expected, is prone to
poor decisions in the passing game.

I knew Minnesota was gonna give TCU a good game. Analysts are saying TCU
didn’t live up to expectations but the truth is that Minnesota is better than
most are giving the Gophers credit for. But I will say that, after a full
season as the starter and an obvious need to improve the passing game, QB Mitch
Leidner still throwing knuckleballs is less than expected.

Wisconsin’s
loss to Alabama lands in the upper portion of this category even though I
called for an Alabama blowout victory. Alabama did win rather easily, but I
actually figured the Tide to win by even more. The Badgers’ inability to move
the ball on the ground was as expected, but QB Joel Stave’s excellent
performance was more than expected.

Purdue
losing to Marshall in an evenly matched game was exactly as expected. A couple
of years ago the Boilermakers would have gotten thumped.

OK, so I didn’t expect Temple
to be good enough to beat anybody, but I am unapologetically proud to say I was
one of the few to expect the same ol’, same ‘ol from Penn St. Look for another season of using the O-Line as a scapegoat
for a QB who holds the ball too long and has the mobility of a statue, and a
coaching staff who is incapable of coming up with an answer to a simple blitz.

Maryland big
over Richmond was as expected. So was Rutgers
big over Norfolk St. It’s Richmond and Norfolk St. Why would I expect anything
less?

Less than expected:

Michigan St.
I didn’t get to see this one but I expected a larger margin of victory. But by
all accounts the Spartans had this one in control except for a few dicey
moments near the end, so maybe this one could go in the “as expected” category.

I thought Michigan would beat Utah. I have the
Wolves at the top of this category pushing the edge of “as expected” because
Utah is a pretty good team and Michigan didn’t look all that bad. I’ve been a
fan of QB Jake Rudock through his career but he was less than expected in this
game. In fact, a case could be made that Rudock cost Michigan the game.

I think HC Kevin Wilson is
overrated and as long as he is the coach, I don’t think Indiana will be a good overall team. I think Wilson’s teams will
put points on the board, but that’s not the same as saying I think they will
win many games. But still I thought the Hoosiers would at least be able to
easily beat an average FCS team. This game came down to the last play.

ATS

FTC
DOLLARS

In this section I track the
results of my Crystal Ball selections that qualify as “plays” ATS (any
prediction that differs from the closing line by seven or more points). I’ve
also included the results of some unsuspecting prognosticators that I found on
line. The standings are based on how many “FTC” dollars are won. For a more
detailed explanation of this section, please refer to the “FTC $ Q&A” tab
at the top of this post.

As I said in my last post,
things will start off slow in this section until conference play starts as I’m
not including any non-conference games this season aside from Notre Dame’s
schedule. And I never include predictions from week one.

This season’s lineup of
unsuspecting contestants will be the same as last season’s minus a few: the
same three from BTN – Tom Deinhart, Sean Merriman, and Brent Yarina; and three
of the four Athlon contestants from last season – Mitch Light, Steve Lassan,
and David Fox.

They don’t know what they’re
in for. Mostly due to the fact that they’re completely unaware that I’ve
included them as my competition, but also due to the fact that I’m due for an
excellent season and, consequently, a beatdown of any competition. Unless I’m
wrong.